


Sketches and Shutterbugs

by Miyotesse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Femslash feb prompt, I think this is a unique ship, Julya, aquarium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 01:31:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9944396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyotesse/pseuds/Miyotesse
Summary: Alya has a photography assignment to finish, an overbearing mother, two sisters who have bugged her to visit the aquarium, and no desire to deal with any of the above. But a rare sighting piques her interest, and she finds herself compelled to follow her curiosity. But hey, it's all in the name of getting a good picture, right?





	

                “Uugh, this is so boring! I could be doing something useful with my Saturday. But nooo, Professor Daguerre sets us a stupid weekend assignment. ‘Go somewhere you’ve never been before, and photograph something you find inspiring or beautiful’,” Alya muttered to herself as she looked down at the screen on her camera. She slumped back on her seat, making a disgusted face as she felt the dampness from the bench ooze into her shirt. “This is so dumb!” she groaned. A faint scent of brine hung in the air. Large tanks containing an array of sea life littered the edge of the room, and a smaller globe of water sat in the centre of the room. All around her, young kids made noise and ran around, creating small scale anarchy wherever they went.

                “Alya, come on, your sisters have wanted to come here for a long time, please be civil,” her mother said, crossing her arms.

                “I know. Sorry, it’s just that I have to get this assignment done or my professor will have a fit,” Alya replied.

                “Well, how about you spend a little time by yourself? The twins want to see the shark feeding, and I’m willing to bet that you won’t find anything beautiful at that. Why don’t you go down the underwater tunnel?” her mother said, gesturing towards one of the paths out of the room. Alya shrugged, determined to keep her seat.

                “Ladies and gentlemen, the shark feeding display will begin in ten minutes. Please arrive early if you wish to have a seat,” an announcement echoed around the place. Alya flinched as, almost as one unit, the children in the room began to head down one of the corridors.

                “Girls! Girls, wait for me! Alya, we’ll meet you back here in half an hour!” her mother said, running to try and catch up to her two little sisters. A few seconds drifted by, and the room was filled with an eerie silence. Taking a moment to flick through the pictures she had already taken, she sighed. _Nothing beautiful, nothing inspirational. All amateurish garbage_ she mused, deleting them one after another. She glanced upwards as she heard a noise, and just caught glimpse of someone walking along the path towards the undersea tunnels. A flash of purple hair caught her eye, and she debated with herself as to whether she should follow the person or not. A few minutes of internal debate later, she pulled herself up from the bench, a smirk upon her face.

                _If that’s Juleka, then there’s only one reason for her being here. She is absolutely on a date, and I am going to snag that scoop!_ She thought as she quickly paced along the walkway, being careful about her steps to be as quiet as possible.

 

                The walkway was longer than she anticipated, and it took almost a minute of slow spiralling descending to even begin the underwater section. There were no lights inside the walkway itself, the only illumination coming from the water tanks that sat above her. Alya slowly walked along, looking up as schools of fish glided over her. She slowly drew her camera up, and began taking shots, taking care not to use the flash, to avoid giving herself away. A few more minutes of walking and taking snaps of shrimp scaling tiny rock faces, giant rays flapping effortlessly through the water, of fish so well disguised she could barely spot them in the picture afterwards, and she came to a larger area, a wide, circular room, with a large dome that gave an incredible view of the tank above. Alya, however, was treated to an entirely different view. In the centre of the room, holding a sketch book tightly to her chest, stood Juleka. She had pushed her hair back so that both of her eyes were visible, and she was gazing up at the glistening, shining waters, her mouth open in slack jawed wonder. Alya wasn’t exactly sure how, but the girl even seemed to be a little taller, despite not wearing heels or being stood on a raised platform. The budding photographer had never been one to believe in cheesy sentiment, and up until that moment in her life, had not thought it possible for a person to glow, but, in that moment, Juleka shone like a beacon. Alya fumbled with her camera, her hands shaking as her heart pounded against her chest, before she was able to bring it up to her face.

                _Hold still… please for the love of god hold still_ she thought, training the camera on the girl. She pressed down on the button, and the camera began to process. _No! Blur! Damnit, come on Alya!_ She chided herself, kneeling to steady herself as she prepared another photo. She took the shot, and then zoomed in on Juleka’s face, on her beautiful crimson eyes and dazzling pale skin. Alya had to bite her lip to hold her shuddered breath in. _Girl, you have got the gay so badly_ she thought, pushing herself back onto her feet. She stumbled a little, which must have caused enough noise to alert Juleka, because she flinched, hunching up a little and turning to the source of the noise, her hair flopping over her eye.

                “Alya?” she croaked, eye wide in a mix of surprise and fear. Alya nodded her head, her own heart thundering in her chest as she was caught by surprise by the girl’s shocked reaction.

                “Hi,” she said sheepishly, waving her free hand. She approached the taller girl, who seemed to relax a little, but she still seemed very on edge compared to how she had been before. “Wasn’t expecting to see anyone else from school here. Are you here with someone? Is it Rooooose?” she said, beaming a little at her teasing. Juleka shook her head.

                “Rose has a date with Ali today. Well, she volunteered to help him with something, but, she’s giddy about it, so, it may as well be a date,” the girl said, more than a little sourly. “So I came here. To, uh… to lighten my mood…” she said, hesitantly.

                “Oh? You like this place?” Alya asked, cocking her head to one side.

                “Mmhm. It’s nice. Calming. Down here, there’s a silence that I like,” she said, glancing around the room.

                “Well, I guess… I’ll leave you to it?” Alya said, feeling a little awkward. “Sorry for disturbing you,” she said.

                “You can stay if you want,” Juleka said, turning and walking to one edge of the room, where she sat on a bench. Alya nodded, and sat beside her.

 

                Fifteen minutes drifted by in the relative darkness, as Juleka and Alya sat in almost silence. Juleka made more noise than Alya, as she had drawn a few pencils from her outfit, and was sketching on her book. Alya found herself staring up at the water, the undulating of the surface caused the lights from far above to flicker, and, when she leaned back, she could imagine herself floating beneath the ocean. After a short while, she heard a faint cough, and pushed herself back upright, glancing over to the girl, who was lightly blushing.

                “Everything OK?” she asked, a little sleepily. She hated to admit it, but the place was relaxing enough that she had almost fallen asleep.

                “I, um… did this,” Juleka mumbled, holding up the sketch book. It was a shockingly lifelike portrait of Alya, gazing up, presumably at the fish.

                “Whoa! Juleka, this is amazing! You’re an incredible artist, wow! I never… I’ve never seen myself like this before…” she said, transfixed by the picture. It was true, she had never seen herself look so enraptured before. If someone was taking a photo, she would always either duck out of the way, or would pose for it, usually something silly. But to be shown in such a light gave her goose bumps.

                “You can have it. I-If you want it,” Juleka mumbled softly. Alya blinked once or twice, and looked up at the girl.

                “I’d… I’d love it. Ack, wait, no, keep hold of it for now, I have nothing to keep it safe in, and I want that thing framed! I just wish I had something I could… oh!” she exclaimed, grabbing her camera. “I actually do have something similar to show you! You caught me in your medium… and I caught you in mine!” she said, flashing a grin as she loaded the picture onto her camera’s little screen.

                “Whoa…” Juleka mumbled.

                “I mean, that screen doesn’t do it justice at all, on a computer it’d look way better, but I really like how the juxtaposition between the light and your clothes really brings out your highlights, and…” Alya said, stopping mid rant as she noticed that the taller girl had tears in her eyes. “Whoa, whoa! Juleka? What’s up?” she asked, wide eyed.

                “It’s just… it’s a photo of me… that looks good. Those are so rare, I usually ruin any photo I’m in,” she said quietly, holding a hand over her mouth.

                “What? What about the class photo?” she said.

                “That was… different. Marinette put a lot of work into making it that way. But I’m still cursed,” she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

                “Well, if you ask me, it’s all a question of attitude. You say you ruin photos that you’re in. Well, you’re not **in** this photo, you **are** this photo. This is a picture of you, wholly, utterly you. You can’t ruin it because… because…” Alya said, stumbling over her words. She wanted to talk on and on about composure and angles, but she felt it was unnecessary. “Because… it can’t be ruined. Because it’s perfect,” she breathed, looking down at the camera, her own cheeks hot with redness. Alya took a deep breath, and shivered. “I should be getting going, my mama will probably be looking for me soon. Um, catch you at school?” she said, smiling weakly at the girl.

                “S-sure. Before you go, um… why did you take this picture? I’m, I’m not mad, just… curious,” she asked. Alya hotly debated with herself for a few moments, before, letting out a noiseless chuckle.

                “I was here for an assignment for class. I had to go somewhere new, and find something inspirational or beautiful. I saw you, and found both at once,” she said, looking the girl in the eye. “And I mean that. You are beautiful, Juleka. Way more beautiful than you give yourself credit for,” she said, hands balled and thrust into her pockets. She took a soft breath, pacing back to the entrance of the large dome.

                “Alya, wait!” Juleka said, her voice cracking as she stood, taking a few hurried steps towards the girl. “W-w-would you like to… m-maybe… hang out? We could… uh…” she managed.

                “We could have a shoot together. Pick a few subjects, sketch and shoot, something like that, just the two of us?” Alya said, smile spreading across her face as the tall girl shuffled about. Juleka nodded, her lips curling to mirror Alya's smile. “Great! We can hash out the details by email. It’s a date,” she said winking as she turned around, and walked back the way she came, not daring to look back and show the girl the goofy grin that was on her face.


End file.
